Feed-water regulator.



J. J. DEWEY.

FEED WATER REGULATOR. APPLICATION FILED 1320.23, 19409.

L'i; Patented Deo. 3, i912.

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J. J. DEWEY.

REGULATOR.

APPLIOATION FILED mais, 1909.'

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ammende l Patented Des. 3, 19,12.

sfinrns garnnfr ortica JOHN. J'. DEWEY, OF HARTFORD, VERMOT.

e FEED-WATER REGULATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dee. a, 1912.

Application filed December 23, 1909. Serial No. 534,570.

, lowing description, in connection with the accompanying drawing, isl a specification, like characters on the drawing representing like parts. l y

This invention relates to a device for regulating the feed water'to a boilerand par-- ticularly to a device adapted for this use in.

steam automobiles.

'One familiar way of feeding Water to the boiler of a steam-driven automobile is by the use of a pump which is driven from the engine or from the driving gear and which acts to force the Water from the water tank into the boiler. `There this arrange ment is used it is customary to provide a by-pass from the delivery pipe of the pump back to the tank and to provide a valve in said by-pass for opening and closing it. This by-pass is used because the pump is operating continuously Whether it is neces sary to deliver water to the boiler or not. When the by-pass valve is open the pump merely operates to force Wateraround through the by-pass into the tank again; but when the by-pass valve is closed, the only outlet from the pump leads into the boiler and the pump will force water into the boiler. Insome previous devices of this character it has been proposed to provide for opening and closing the by-pass valve automatically by the action of an expansion tube which is connected to the boiler so that it will be filled with steam or Water according to the water level in the boiler, and which when iilled with steam will expand and thereby cause the by-pass valve to close, while when filled with Water Will contract thereby permittingthe valve to open.

`My invention relates to a device of this latter lclass and has for its objects to provide an exceedingly simple device which has few moving parts and is not liableto get out of order; and also to provide a novel construction whereby when the Water level is at its normal point, the pump will be set in operation to pump Water into the boiler whenever the 'automobile is going down a grade, and ,its operation Will be stopped when thel automobile is ,ascending a' grade. This is of decided ,iui'vantage because the States, residing at power. lnecessary to pump water into the boiler 1s a considerable factor` and where the boiler feed mechanism is so arranged that the -power necessary to force the Water lnto'the boiler can be used when the automoblle is going down grade, a considerable saving in the cost of operating can. be effected.

Referring now to the drawings whereiny I have shown one embodiment of my -invention, Figure l is a side view of an automobile 'body partially broken outA to show` a boiler feed mechanism embodying my in- 1Vention; F ig. 2 is aside view of the expansion tube for operating the by-pass valve; Fig. 3 is a section on the line www, Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a section on the line g/-y, F ig. 2; Fig-'5 is a diagrammatic view showingthe position of the expansion tube.

3 indicates an automobile body which may be of any suitable or usual construction, 4 indicates a boiler, 6 the pump which operates to vpump the Water into the boiler. The pump is shown diagrammatically only as its construction and operationy is well known, and itv was 5 the Water tank and,

thought advisable not to confuse the drawings by showing the pump in detail. The pump is connected to the tank 5 by means of a pipe 17 and is also connected to the boiler 4 bya. pipe 8 Which will prefer? ably have a check-valve 9 therein, said pipe being shown as leading into the top ofthe boiler, although it might equally Well lead into any part of the boiler. Leading from the pipe 8 is a by-pass 10 which extends back to the tank 5 and this by-pass has a by-pass valve therein, the valve Acasing of which is shown at ll. The by-pass valve may be of any suitable shape, and I have herein shown it as a needle valve l2 which seats onto'a valve seat formed inthe valve -casing 11. wWhen the by-pass valve is closed',

the pump must necessarily pump Water into theboiler through the pipe 8, but when the.l j

by-pass valve is open, the pressurev in the boiler will close the check-valve 9 andthe pump Will then operate to pump the Water around through saidv by-pass and by-pass valve l2 back to the tank 5.

In order to provide for ope-ning and closing the by-pass valveautomatically, I employ au expansion tube 13 Which is rigidly connected at one end to the valve-stem l2 and is connected at the other end to the valve casing 11. This lmay conveniently be the twdfiends of tube 13 to two'headers 14 and accomplished the expansion 17, one of -which is securedto the stein of the valvi.y *cured .to 'two' rods 16 that in turn are se.

12, and the. other of which 'is secured to the valve casing 11. The header 17 yis shown as provided with the two wings 18 the-.rods 16 v'extend and to through which which said ro'ds are r-igidlysecured'by setlnuts 19. The headera'l is provided with wings through which the rods 16 extend of vthe rods.

i to the top of the boiler by a pipe'24 and the boiler'by a pipe 25.

header 14 is connected tothe bottom of the 'The expansion 'tube 1 3 is arranged horizontally, as seen in Fig. 5, and willl be situated at approximately the normal waterlevel of the boiler, which is indicated in the" 'drawings by the dotted line 27. With this construction it pansion tube 13 is in constant communication b oth with the top and thefbottornof the boiler, and asa result the water level 1n the pipes24, 25 and expansion tube 13 will be the same as that in the boiler. When the water level in the boiler is above the normal I water line 27, the expansion tube will be springs 22.

lled with water, but when said water level is below theline 27, the expansion tube will be yfilled with steam. The temperatu-re of the steamv in the boiler is, of course,'higher than that of the water in the pipe 25, and the parts of the apparatus areso adjusted that when the expansion tube 13-is lfilled with water and consequently has the temperature of the water," the valve 12 will be opened. As soon as below the expansion tube, however, and said expansion tube becomes lled with steam, the higher temperature of the steam will cause said tube to expand and the increase in length of this expansion tube, due to the expansion, will cause lthe head 14 to slide on the rod 16 and move the valve 12 until the latter is closed.r if the tube has any further expansionafter the valve is closed, suoli expansion is taken care of by the As soon as the by-pass valve is. thus closed t-he pump 6 will obviously operate to pump water into the boiler, and

when the water' level in the boiler rises to such' a point that theexpansion tube will be gilled with water instead of steam, said tube l will cool somewhat and 4will consequently contract in length. The contractionwill open the by-pass valve 12, thus permitting the'water 'tqbe pumped around vthrough the vby-pass-instead ofi to the boiler.

are yieldinglgT` will be noted that the ex-vl the water level falls It will' thiis be seenthatthe. 'appa' herein-described will; operate tog? close aiitomaticallyihe' bypass v; lve upont variations in .the water levelinl the boiler, and the operator of thejmachine, does notzhave to burden his mind witlrtlie question. offw'ater supply in the boiler.l v ?Vhil'e"the' expansion tube and by-pass valve may b e 'placed in anybonveni'ent locatiepgj-j'onthe automobile,

tance therefrom, as illustrated in the draw'- ings, wherein it is placed. immediately bef' -j hind the Adash-board 3G. 4The advantage-of placing itin ithe rear of the boiler is .that the gg operation of pumping into the boiler will be started up automatically when the automobile is going dow-n 'hill and will be stopped when the automobile is going up hill, unless, of course, the water 'level ismuch g5 below its normal position when the automobile is going up theliill. The reason for, this is that when the automobile is going down hill the expansion tube will be brought into a position above the normal water level, 90 due to the inclined position of the automo.-

bile bo dy,.so'v that lthe water level will fall.

in the pipe 25 and steam will enter the ex pansion tube, thus opening .the by-pass valve, As soon as the automobile begins to ascend a grade, the expansion '.tube, being 'in the rear of the boiler, is at a lower level than, thel normal water level in the boiler and' becomes filled with'water, thus opening the' bypass again The power necessary to pump water into the boiler against can bedone when the automobile is goingV down `grade and requires. comparatively lit-v tle power to propel Ait instead of while it is going up grade, a considerable saving inthe Water and gaSOleIl used can be "eiected.f V "Indeed ifthe down grade is Suclentno power is neededto propelth'e Cm, ,and as the;A lia pump is usually connected to' the driving4 gear so asI to operate whenever the. ear is'- going, the pumping may be done without?. f operating the Vengine and simply by the coasting movement of the car down 'the 115 ade. Ofcourse, if the automobile is go'- ing up a long grade it will benecessary'td pump water into the boiler' some time during the ascent, but the average road' over. which 'an automobile passes is full of. shortjl-zo grades and with this'arrangement the'pump` ing of the Water into the boiler Willunder normal conditions be vdone almostentirely while the automobile is going on the down grades. Moreover whenever water is pumped. into the boiler, the temperature of the water in the boiler is reduced 'and considerable heat energy is required to bring the water to the" previous temperature. With inv improvements wherein the pumping is done en the 1rg9 therefore, 70;

I- pre'f'erto place it 75 ,1n the rear of the-boilerand at av slight disthe high pressure therein. f is a considerable factor and if the pumping. 1

automobile.'

down grade, `this heating of thev Water which,v 1s pumped lnto the 'boiler is done at a time when little or no power is needed to runjtheautomobile, and it is therefore possible lto maintain tall times'a comparatively even steam pressure. i f In the drawings I have shown the-"pipes 24 and z5-situated,partillyin therear ofthe dasheboar'd 30Ls'imp'1 to avoid confusion butin actual practice t vpipes'would be concealed. in the boiler sptee 'in front of: the'- 4 rectly 'to l the Valve stem 'without the interposition oflevers, springs, etc., the device is an' extremely simple one and there are'no parte that'are liable 'to get Olitzof order.

' In, an automobile, the'eombinationwith e i Aboiler, a. vpump to, pump Water linto the boiler, a -by-pess'- fromlthe pump to lthe vnenne to this/specification, in the presence `source of supply and a valve'inthe by-pass hevingaV stem and provided with a valve v25 fcasing, 'ofv guide rods .yieldingly connected at one endto said valve easing, a horizontally-arranged' exv nslon tube s1tuated atfapproximetelythe normal Water level in the 'boiler'h'aving one end thereof rigidly-.con-- other end of said tube being 'rigidly connected directly tothe valve stem, l.and means corti* 4meeting one end-of the tube tothe top of th boiler and. the other end of the tubetto the 'bottom of the boiler whereby saidfltube will 'll immediately -When thev Water level falls below normal; 

